White Gentlehobbit
by Neferit
Summary: It took but a moment. One second, Bilbo is hanging from Thorin's grasp, Thorin's sneers being thrown in his face as he – in futile attempts to free himself – grips his hands, and the very next moment Bilbo is falling. Hobbit kink meme fill.


**A/N:** Written for a prompt over at hobbit kink meme:

_I really want a fic where Thorin actually does throw Bilbo off the wall and he dies. But after the battle, (all the dwarfs live) when they start rebuilding, weird things start happening, and they keep seeing Bilbo. Whether he is confused and upset (doesn't know he's dead) or a crazy dangerous vengeful spirit is up to the filler._

Sounded like something I had been waiting to write for, well, _reasons_.

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing but my very own copy of The One Ring. My precioussss!

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**White Gentlehobbit**

It took but a moment.

One second, Bilbo is hanging from Thorin's grasp, Thorin's sneers being thrown in his face as he – in futile attempts to free himself – grips his hands, and the very next moment Bilbo is falling.

Time seems to slow down to crawl for those few seconds – those are all it takes – and then Bilbo's body hits the ground under the wall he had had been basically dropped off at.

He didn't even have the time to scream; only a surprised yelp escaped his lips before Bilbo was no more.

It seems to shock everyone from the madness the gold had them in, but there is no time for remorse, as the orcs arrive just in that time and all they can think of is fighting for their lives.

Through some twist of fate, even if there are heavy losses in ranks of Elves, Men and Dwarves, the Company pulls through – battered and bruised, but still alive, even if the lives of Thorin and Kíli and Fíli seem to be hanging on the finest of threads. They bury their dead, and actually sign several treaties of peace and assistance between their people in the end, and while they never will be true friendship between those three people, there will always be at least a grudging respect.

Bilbo's abrupt death weights on them all.

They bury him with all respects they could think of; send word of his death to the Shire and start rebuilding the Kingdom under Mountain, when strange things start happening all around Erebor.

One day, Thorin has to deal with a strange encounter one of the royal guards reports; guard's eyes full of terror and his body is trembling, no matter how hard the dwarf tries to stop the tremors. "You have no home, that voice said, Your Highness. You have no home."

One of the cooks actually drops the wheel of cheese he had been carrying to the pantry, when voice belonging to no body in sight asks: "Do you have a cheese knife?"

"I am tired of the whole affair. I wish I was back in the West in my own home, where folk are more reasonable." With that, the voice finally started to be accompanied by person. _Ghost of a person_.

Bilbo Baggins no longer had the colours all his companions were used to relate to him. The soft tan of his skin, the vivid colour of his eyes, soft shade of his hair, even the vivacious colours of his clothing… all had been washed down to gray and white, shining in the darkness as the Arkenstone itself once shone above the throne.

Bofur is the first one who sees him, and it shocks him to no end to see his friend standing in front of him, before the said friend walks right through him and runs with all the might he had when alive.

Thorin sees him the next; he finds the hobbit sitting on the wall that led to his death, looking to the west as he quietly sang a tune Thorin heard only once before. "Let me tell you that I love you, and I think about you all the time. Shire, you're calling me, now I'm going home," the lyrics stabbing him in the heart, because it was his fault, his fault, that it would never be fulfilled.

Bombur sees him in the kitchens – Bilbo is walking around the kitchen table, seemingly gathering ingredients for something, and he whistles a tune Bombur recognizes as one of those he heard while travelling through the Shire – joyful song about food and good company.

Ori runs into him in the corridors. "Don't do that!" Bilbo calls. "You'll blunt the knives!"

Kíli nearly gets heart-attack when he comes to his rooms, and first what welcomes him back is "don't do that! That's my mother's treasure chest!"

Dwalin is shaken when he encounters the ghost of their burglar, finding him hanging from the edge of the wall he died at – it reminds him strongly of the time at Misty Mountains, when the Company got right in the middle of mountain giants fight, and he thought Bilbo lost. The ghost locks his eyes with his, and then his hold slips.

The others meet Bilbo as well, but nobody speaks of their encounters anymore; the memories too painful and too personal to share with others, even if they meet the ghost repeatedly.

After time, they get used to his wandering presence, but the longing in his voice, forever torn away from his beloved Shire, is something the dwarves of Erebor could never get used to.

"You are right that I miss my home, my armchair and my books. Home to me is warm fireplace, good food, nice book and a full pipe. But you do not have a home – and that is why I came back. To help you recover your home."

The spirit is seen for the last time on the eve before words gets from Moria. Ori, Balin and Oin are dead, Moria once again falling to evil magic of balrog and dark blades of orcs. Bilbo cries, his voice pleading for mercy, before he dissipates into nothingness.

Nothing can ever turn back the tide of time, but story of Bilbo Baggins, the one who helped the dwarves to reclaim their home, losing his own in the process, is forever written in the books of Erebor library; a reminder to everyone that not everything that is golden does glitter.


End file.
